1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to backups, and, more particularly, to an architecture for centralized backup of multiple computers and for multiple users.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, there are a number of conventional methods that relate to organization of data archiving. One of these methods is a backup of the entire hard drive, which typically involves copying of the hard drive content onto some other medium, such as another hard disk drive, a DVD ROM, a DVD RAM, a flash disk, and frequently including copying of the hard drive content over a network. The primary disadvantage of such a method is the need to backup what is frequently a very large amount of data. On the one hand, this results in a relatively lengthy process of archiving, and, on the other hand, frequently requires relatively large available space for the archived data. This ultimately results in a relatively high cost of archiving per unit of archived data and network overload.
Several software applications offers a single management tool to backup a user's data and to restore data from backup, while providing archive management. Also, they helps organizations take advantage of both tape and disk storage with its advances in disk- and snapshot-based protection, off-site media management, and automated disaster recovery.
Administrators can set up periodic schedules for automatic, unattended backup operations of users across the network. Backups can be full or incremental. A full backup contains all files, while an incremental backup only contains those files that changed since the last backup. An administrator can create systematic and complete backups over a period of time, and optimize network traffic.
Synthetic (consolidated) backups may be required for users that require quick restores and backups that do not put a heavy data transmission load on their network. Consolidated backups are automatically created from one full backup or                a consolidated full backup and any number of incremental backups.        
Consolidated backups allow for quick restore data from a single backup image. Consolidated backups consume less network bandwidth and decrease the impact on the application host.
The user initially needs to create a traditional full backup. After this, the user may no longer need to create traditional full backups. The user will be able to create consolidated full backups from other consolidated full backups. A user can then use the consolidated backup to restore data in the same way that a user would restore data from a traditional backup.
Creation of consolidated full backups takes place on a server instead of the client. One advantage of consolidating a full backup is that the processing of the backup is performed on the server and not on the client. During a traditional full backup, all files are copied from the client to a server, even though their data may not have changed since the last incremental backup.
Programs for managing backups provide a backup method for administrators to create images on disk initially, and then move them to another media type at a later point in time.
The number of operations with backups will be reduced, if consolidation of backups take place during the backups' migration to another storage device.
The present invention is based on these considerations, and it is an object thereof to provide a method for managing backups that is more efficient and has better operability.